Wire hat ring and stay



(No Model.)

S. T. NEWMAN.

WIRE HAT RING AND STAY.

Patented Apr. 26, 1887.

N. PUERS. Plmto-Lilhugraphnr. Washington. D. C.

UNITED STATES Arenr 9 rricnt "WIRE HAT-RING AND STAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,833, dated April26, 1887.

Application filed August 2,1886. Serial NQQODJGB. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL T. NEWMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Danbury, in the count-y of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in WireHat Rings and Stays; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertaius to make and use thesame.

My invention has for its object to produce hat rings and stays made fromwire or strips of metal. Heretofore, so far as. I'am aware, hat ringsand stays have been made entirely from pasteboard, and ordinarilyflanged upon one or both edges. Pasteboard rings and stays, however, arefar from meeting the requirements of the trade, asthey are expensive,bungling, and cannot be made to conform to the droop of the hat-brims.

By my invention I dispense entirely with the use of pasteboard andproduce a light, cheap, and flexible ring or stay, which at the sametime supports the hats perfectly and can easily be made to conform tothe droop of the brims. In order to accomplish these results, I havedevised the novel construction of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification.

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating my improved ring or stay inuse, the hat being shown in dotted lines; and Figs. 2 and 3 are viewsillustrating different ways of joining the parts of the rings or staystogether.

It will of course be apparent that my invention is not limited to anyspecial style of form ing the parts of rings and stays, but .that theymay be formed and may be joined together in any suitable manner, theessential features of my invention being a top ring, 1, a bot-tom ring,2, and two or more braces or cross-pieces, 3. connecting the two rings.I have in practice found two braces or cross-pieces amply sufficient,and in order to produce a construction having a single brace orcross-piece on the opposite sides thereof I have formed the rings orstays of two separate parts or pieces of wire, both of which, however,are formed exactly alike, and are then joined together.

4 indicates a covering or envelope, of paper large enough to project outbeyond the brims\ of the hats and to just fit within the boxes, so thatwhen packed therewill be no movement whatever of the stack of hats.

6 indicates the droop at opposite ends of both top and bottom rings inthe completed rings or stays, which are so formed as to closely conformto the droop of the hat-brims.

I have found in practice that, owing to the elasticity of the wire, hatspacked with my improved rings or stays may be veryseverely shaken aboutand may be handled quite roughly in transportation without damaging thehats in the slightest. For convenience in description I have designatedthe separate parts of which each complete ring or stay is formed asA andB. In the operation of forming each part is shaped to form onehalf of atop and bottom ring, 1 and 2. These halfrings are formed in a planeapproximately horizontal to the plane of the central portion of thewire, any desired droop being given to the half-rings in the process ofmanufacture.

The central portion of each part, which I have indicated by 7, forms aportion of the crosspiece 8 of the completed ring or stay.

As stated above, the ends of each piece of wire and the independentparts A and B may be joined together in any suitable or preferredmanner. I11 Fig. 1 I have shown the two ends 8 of each piece of wirebent toward each other after completing the top and bottom half-rings,said ends lying in a plane parallel with portion 7 and being joinedtogether by sleeves 9. This completes each independent portion of thering or stay. The parts are then joined together by sleeves or bands 10,or in any suitable manner. As shown in Fig. 1, each cross piece isformed by joining the portion 7 of one part to the ends 8 of the otherpart, which have previously been joined together by sleeve 9. In Fig. 2the ends 8 of each part are carried past each other and are coiled abouteach other, and also about portion 7 of the other part. In Fig. 3 theends 8 are left shorter and are simply coiled tightly about portion 7 ofthe other part at top and bottom, this being,

in fact, the simplest manner in which my imby cross-pieces, one or bothof said rings being provided with loops or projections 5, as and for thepurpose set forth.

3. A hat ring or stayconsisting of top and .bottom rings of metal joinedtogether by crosspieces, said rings and cross-pieces being provided witha paper or textile covering or an envelope, 4,as and for the purpose setforth.

4. A hat ring or stay consisting of top and bottom rings, 1 and 2, conncted by cross piecesB, said ring or stay being formed from two pieces ofwire, each of which is formed with a central portion, 7, two half-rings,and ends 8, which are connected to the central portion, 7, of the otherpiece.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

sAMUEL 'I. NEWMAN.

Witnesses:

LEVI K. MANSFIELD, GEORGE D. STRATTON.

